The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Tibouchina plant, botanically known as Tibouchina×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Cool Baby’.
The new and ornamental variety was selected by the breeder as a result of an ongoing breeding program that has been conducted by the inventor for more than thirty years at the inventor's nursery in Victoria Point, Queensland, Australia. The purpose of the breeding program is to produce novel varieties of Tibouchina in varying plant sizes, flower colors, and which are well-suited to a range of climate zones. ‘Cool Baby’ is a hybrid plant derived from the deliberate controlled cross-pollination of the unpatented female parent, an individual plant of Tibouchina organensis, named ‘Totally Moonstruck’, and the unpatented male parent, an individual plant of Tibouchina mutabilis named ‘Jazzie’. The inventor emasculated flowers of the female parent and applied pollen that was freshly collected from the male parent in 2003. The parent plants were isolated to prevent open pollination. In 2007, the inventor selected ‘Cool Baby’ as a seedling that had been raised from the cross-pollination described herein. Selection was based on the criteria of habit, flower color, plant dimensions, and cold temperature tolerance. The plant was then propagated in 2008 via vegetative cuttings to produce a new generation for final evaluation.
Further, asexual reproductions of ‘Cool Baby’ in Victoria Point, Queensland, Australia has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are retained and reproduced true to type through more than six successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The color references made herein are to The R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticulture Society of London, except where general color terms of ordinary significance are used.
The present invention has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variation in environment without a change in the genotype of the plant.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and determined to basic characteristics of ‘Cool Baby’ which, in combination, distinguish this Tibouchina plant as a new and distinct cultivar:                1. Very compact size and with rounded plant growth (dwarf form);        2. Abundant, mid-sized white flowers with a purple margin;        3. Slow to moderate vigor;        4. Very dense habit;        5. Low temperature tolerance; and        6. Woody, long-lived shrub.        
The new variety differs from ‘Totally Moonstruck’ and ‘Jazzie’ in its smaller, mature plant size. Further, ‘Jazzie’ exhibits purple flowers.
Further, the new variety exhibits a differing margin color, while ‘Peace Baby’ does not (U.S. plant patent application Ser. No. 13/815,677). ‘Peace Baby’ also has larger mature plant dimensions, a faster growth rate, and lighter green leaves than ‘Cool Baby’.